My Life So Far
Born:
July 25, 1933, Salina, Kansas
Bachelor of Arts, 1955, Greenville College, Greenville, IL, with a Major in English Literature.
Master's Degree, Asbury Seminary, Wilmore,
Kentucky, 1958.
Master of Arts, Mass Communications, Temple University, Philadelphia, 1959.
My family wanted me to be a minister, and so I
served in the Methodist Church for three miserable years, 1959 to 1962. I had no interest in theology or saving
souls.
My wife encouraged me to find my own way in life, just as she did herself later when she became a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
I wanted
to be a writer, and I had a reasonable portfolio of articles and short stories even while in college and graduate school.
But when I finally got a job with Christian Children's Fund I quickly discovered that I was not going to spend my time
writing public relations articles. Instead I was going to spend my time writing fundraising letters.
So I
did. And soon came to understand that my homiletical training was an excellent prelude to fundraising letters, because
the techniques involved in preparing a 10-minute sermon every week, (only 10 minutes because I didn't have much to say),
gave me a grounding in research, outlining, writing copy, and so on.
Also, I always read my sermons from the pulpit.
And after three years I developed what I later discovered was an "oral" style of writing.
But moving
along...
I soon started my own company and, during what I call my "Years of Adventure", I spent a lot of time overseas,
taking pictures and interviewing unfortunate children and adults with terrible and life-threatening problems.
I experienced
the joys of tear gas in Seoul, Korea, while filming a student riot. And was knocked in the mud on a narrow sidewalk
by a burly North Korean sergeant in the DMZ Zone between the Koreas.
I slept underground in the offshore island of Quemoy while the Communists shelled
above on odd days. I took pictures of orphans on even days.
I got caught behind the enemy line during
the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and had to figure out a way to get back to Saigon on my own, since, as a civilian, the military
would not provide me with an escort.
I survived an assassination attempt in Madras, India, when a national executive mistook me for an auditor and poisoned
me.
I was escorted at gunpoint from a refugee camp in Bethlehem. And so on.
(This was the period of time when my amateur photography
appeared in many U.S. magazines and won some awards, and was selected for publication in advertising textbooks.)
After
I got that out of my system, I took my parenting role a little more seriously and stayed at home and recruited a staff of
marketing consultants and writers, and set up an agency in Richmond, Virginia, Huntsinger & Jeffer, still in business
under the capable ledership of Vicky Lester.
And one in Los Angeles, California, West Coast Direct
Response. Also we had a personal letter operation, list rental brokerage, and a telemarketing division.
I
participated in the growth of today's successful fundraising techniques utilizing T.V., radio, magazines, newspapers,
direct mail, telemarketing, and later, the Internet.
Along with non-profit work, I also did marketing projects for American Express, Kemper Insurance, Days Inn, Ford's Colony,
Crestar Bank, Kemper Financial Services, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Residence Inn, Marriott Resorts and more.
Many
of the techniques that I learned in commercial marketing, I carried over into direct response fundraising.
I did
my duty as a speaker for national and regional conventions and conferences, and conducted direct response fundraising
seminars.
I wrote a regular column for Fundraising Management for several years, and also for Successful Fundraising and
Non-Profit Times.
I published a home study course on direct mail fundraising in 1979, and published the first edition of Fundraising Letters
in 1982, which, at the time, was recognized as the most comprehensive textbook available on the subject.
I
revised that book several times until, finally, I ran out of anything worth saying. In fact, I got tired of analyzing
fundraising letters, because I wanted to actually write them.
Meanwhile, I received the Professional Achievement
Award from the Direct Mail Association's Non-Profit Council, and the Sisk Award for Direct Marketing Vision.
At one time I was Chair of the Direct Mail Advertising Non-Profit Council. That was when we had 14 members
and our meetings were held at a New City bar on West 39th Street.
But in all those years, all I really wanted to
do was write. So finally I did, selling my companies to the employees, and getting out of the business end of things.
I worked
for many years with my long-time friend, Roger Craver, as a Senior Creative Consultant to Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company.
And on
my own, I stayed busy writing letters and packages and Internet appeals.
I used to ski and play tennis and run four miles
a day. I still run, but that's about it, except for trying to learn to play golf - which so far is an embarrassment.
My wife and I have been together for over 55 years, and we both survived cancer scares, and now have "downsized"
and live in a small cottage on the 17th fairway of the Hanover Country Club with our dog Maggie, who is house
trained, but not house broken.
As a hobby I work for a video game development company in London, England, and create original theme music and sound effects
for historical video games. A labor of love, since no one in the video game market can afford to quit their day job.
That's
about it for now, except to indulge in the luxury of observing that since 1965, there has never been a year when I haven't
had at least one control package being mailed nationally by a major non-profit organization.
Jerry Huntsinger
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